By Joseph Temple

With the temperature dropping and winter looming, are you looking for something tasty to keep you warm?  If so, you might want to have a look at some delightful dishes from our friends in Ukraine.  While many of us associate this Eastern European country with cabbage rolls and perogies, there is so much more to this nation’s proud culinary history.  So, have some bread with salt (representing hospitality and friendship) and try cooking some of these Ukrainian dishes that are richly steeped in tradition and culture.

Smachnoho!

1. Borscht

No list of Ukrainian foods is complete without mentioning Borscht – a staple of every traditional kitchen.  Originally made from cow parsnip, this soup is extremely popular across Eastern Europe, made mostly of beets and rich meat stock.  However, during Christmas, it is served meatless with rye bread.

2. Deruny

Deruny are pancakes made of grated potatoes and onions.  Fried in oil until they’re golden brown, sour cream or apple sauce is usually served with this comforting dish.  The Ukrainian version is often thinner than what most Westerners are used to, but still quite filling and delicious.

Evilmonkey0013 at English Wikipedia [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

3. Pyrizhky

Sold in train stations and public squares across Ukraine, buns like pyrizhky are stuffed with meat, cabbage or potatoes and either baked or fried before serving.  Like other Ukrainian dishes, sour cream and dill is usually added to this delicious street food.

By Mariuszjbie (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

4. Mizeria

A simple salad consisting of cucumbers in a sour cream dill dressing, mizeria was first invented in Poland where cucumbers were introduced by Queen Bona Sforza.  Its literal translation is misery.  This peasant dish may have been named to reflect the hard times associated with the poverty of the depressed region.

Kagor at the Ukrainian language Wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

5. Nalysnyky

A thin crepe filled with meat, mushrooms or sauerkraut, many Ukrainians favor putting sweetened cottage cheese in their nalysnyky.  They also can be made into a thin, multi-layered cake using a savory filling or a simple sweet jam like plum butter for a special treat.

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6. Foraged Mushrooms

In Ukraine, mushroom picking is a national pastime with the country’s vast forests providing an excellent selection for those who love to forage.  Once dried (historically to last the winter), these mushrooms are used in countless dishes such as rich gravies, mouth-watering soups or in tiny perogies called yshka which are served with clear borscht on Christmas Eve.

By Candrichuk (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

7. Kasha

With potatoes and bread being a bedrock for the nation’s collective diet, it should come as no surprise that Ukrainians have been harvesting wheat from the same land for nearly 7,000 years.  Used in a variety of dishes, a popular grain known as Kasha (or buckwheat) has a number of different applications.  Whether as a meal topped with fried bacon, onions or gravy, it can also be used in cabbage rolls and in liver sausage called a kyshka.

By MOs810 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

8. Pickled Herring

Often served with sour cream, sliced onions and rye bread, pickled herring works as an appetizer or as part of a salad mixed with potatoes, beets, pickles or chopped apples.  Also, since most Ukrainians strictly observe religious traditions, pickled herring is served on Christmas Eve as one of twelve meatless dishes that symbolize each Apostle.

By Silar (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

9. Babka

Baked in tall tins, Babka is a dessert of rich yeast bread and lots of eggs.  During Easter, it is often crowned with many decorations such as little dough rosettes, designs of wheat stalks or a symbolic cross.  Sometimes, for a special sweet treat, Babka is flavored with raisins, dried fruit such as citron peel, chocolate or cinnamon and drizzled with fondant.  Don’t tell Baba, but you can even add some colored sprinkles for the kids.

By Yair rand (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

10. Rugelach

Sources:

Dalton, Meredith. Culture Shock!: Ukraine. Portland: Graphic Arts Center Publishing, 2000.
Hardaway, Ashley. Ukraine (Other Places Travel Guide). Other Places Publishing, 2011.
Kopka, Deborah. Welcome to Ukraine: Passport to Eastern Europe & Russia. Dayton: Milliken Publishing Company, 2011.
Kraig, Bruce & Sen, Colleen Taylor. Street Food Around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2013.
Nichol, Christina. Essential Spices and Herbs: Discover Them, Understand Them, Enjoy Them. Berkeley: Callisto Media Inc., 2015.
Stechishin, Savella. Traditional Ukrainian Cookery. Winnipeg: Trident Press, 1973.

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Question: How can rot ever be noble?

Answer: Good point! Rot in grapes is generally not noble but a bad thing resulting in decomposition of unhealthy grapes. Grey rot is often still an issue and we remember well the widespread sour rot problems in the Okanagan especially during the 2013 & 2004 vintages. However, healthy ripe grapes in hot misty conditions may be attacked by the fungus botrytis cinerea (particularly in Sauternes, Tokaj, Germany and other unique regions) miraculously turning the individual berries into raisins and concentrating their juice – a noble rot indeed!

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Vancouver Aquarium have a wonderful conservation program called Ocean Wise (www.oceanwise.ca) created “to educate and empower consumers about the issues surrounding sustainable seafood.” Overfishing is a growing threat to our oceans and your seafood choice does make a difference. Encourage you to go to their website and download their exciting new app that contains an outstanding Seafood Guide for reference. It is continually being updated giving you seasonal ocean-friendly options across Canada from Victoria to Halifax.

Ocean Wise also organize a popular annual Chowder Chowdown competition held in the cities of Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto with the 2015 winners posted on their site. In Vancouver on November 18 this scribe was one of the judges tasting the chowder prepared by 14 finalists and awarding the championship to Chef Roger Ma of Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar (www.boulevardvancouver.ca) for his delicious Lobster Miso Chowder. They presently are flying high at Boulevard as their Chef Alex Chen won the next night in Victoria at the BC Gold Medal Plates competition (which I also judged) with an amazing local heritage warm pork terrine “head to tail” with chestnuts, foie gras, fresh Oregon truffles, carrot puree. and umani jus. Alex Chen now will be competing in the Canadian Culinary Championships (www.goldmedalplates.com) in Kelowna BC February 4-6, 2016.

Also check out the Monterey Bay California Aquarium Seafood Watch for their recommendations in the USA at www.seafoodwatch.org

Support sustainable and local!

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By Joseph Temple

Earlier this month, Spectre, the twenty-fourth installment of the James Bond series debuted in movie theaters across North America. Spanning more than fifty years, this enormously profitable franchise has raked in over six billion dollars in box office receipts ever since Sean Connery starred as 007 in 1962’s Dr. No. Featuring exotic locations, gorgeous women and death-defying stunts requiring a suspension of disbelief (see Moonraker), the James Bond character has sustained his enormous popularity with movie going audiences for over half a century. Daring yet culturally sophisticated, the British spymaster is known for many things: fine-tailored tuxedos, a Walther PPK and of course—Martinis, shaken not stirred.

A drink request that is now part of the popular lexicon, Bond has become synonymous with this legendary cocktail. But often overlooked is 007’s passion for fine wines, which is evident in both the Ian Flemming novels as well as the numerous motion pictures from Connery to Daniel Craig. With the expert knowledge of a seasoned sommelier, Bond has put his skills as an oenophile to good use, whether it’s stopping the bad guys or seducing the ladies.

A quintessential example can be seen in 1963’s From Russia With Love. Traveling by train on the Orient Express, Bond has dinner alongside a beauty named Romanova and an assassin who calls himself Nash. Posing as a friendly contact, he blows his cover by committing the ultimate faux pas for wine aficionados. Ordering a grilled sole, the double agent asks for a glass of Chianti to pair with his seafood.

“Red wine with fish—that should have told me something,” shouts Bond as he later battles the armed SPECTRE agent.

And in addition to these food-pairing skills, 007 is quite fond of only the best in terms of bubbly. With the iconic Fontainebleau Hotel providing the backdrop for Bond’s bikini clad mission in 1965’s Goldfinger, even his seductive blonde companion is incapable of luring him back into bed when it is discovered that a bottle of 1953 Dom Pérignon has a temperature above 38 degrees Fahrenheit. “My dear girl, there are some things just aren’t done,” insists Sean Connery who heads toward the fridge with a not-so-subtle jab against the Fab Four. “That’s as bad as listening to The Beatles without earmuffs.”

The ’53 Dom is also referenced in Dr. No when Bond is about to use a lesser vintage as a weapon in his enemy’s underwater lair. “That’s a Dom Pérignon ’55—it would be a pity to break it,” says the evil doctor, which leads 007 to respond with “I prefer the ’53 myself.”

With product placement now a cornerstone of the franchise, many champagne houses have been featured including Veuve Clicquot, Krug and especially Bollinger, which is shown in more than a dozen of the post-Connery Bond flicks. One memorable scene from 1979’s Moonraker features the popular villain-turned-hero Jaws popping open a bottle with his infamous teeth.

Moving from bubbly to Bordeaux, Bond is able again to unmask his would-be-assassins at the dinner table with their lack of wine knowledge. In 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, after pouring a bottle of 1955 Mouton Rothschild, 007 comments that “I had rather expected a claret.” When the villain states that they have little claret on board the ship, alarm bells go off since Mouton is from Bordeaux or what the English refer to as claret. So much for posing as an undercover sommelier.

In the book James Bond and Philosophy: Questions Are Forever, the authors write, “He immerses himself in the enjoyment of the best foods, wines and women. The indulgences, which we see in the films, are even more pronounced in the novels—Bond takes such pleasure in the details of creating his own martinis and named them after women, ordering the best caviar, making wine suggestions to the sommelier … He is a true connoisseur.”

Of course, when it comes to drinking the best wines in the world, you only live once—or maybe twice!

Sources:

Held, Jacob M. & South, James B. James Bond and Philosophy: Questions Are Forever. Chicago: Open Court Publishing, 2006.
Leigh, David. The Complete Guide to the Drinks of James Bond. Raleigh: Lulu.com, 2010.
Nitins, Tanya. Selling James Bond: Product Placement in the James Bond Films. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011.

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Question: I am doing more blind tastings of wines and hoping to be asked as a wine competition judge sometime in the future. What in your opinion is the best skill I can learn to become better?

Answer: Many factors are involved including your taste buds but for me the aromatics are the real key. Broad tasting experience combined with a good wine memory are really invaluable in assessing the quality. Get to know the characteristics shown by the different grape varieties. Do you recognize some familiarity of that grape variety or the style of the blend when you first smell it? I find covering the glass with my hand while swirling the glass initially helps concentrate the aromas for that important explosive first impression. At a tasting yesterday with experienced tasters I again noted that most people seem to have quite different tolerances for faults in a wine like corky TCA and sulphur levels. Your eyesight and hearing now can be improved but your sense of smell and taste are less easily corrected. Some tasters just seem to be more sensitive than others.

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